NICOLA Sturgeon has claimed she is the victim of a “smear” campaign by friends of Alex Salmond, as she denied reports she misled the public and parliament.

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The First Minister’s office flatly rejected reports in two Rupert Murdoch-owned newspapers about her role in the botched sexual misconduct investigation into Alex Salmond.

The Herald:

A statement issued by her official spokesman said: “This appears to be an attempt to smear the First Minister.”

The government criticised a report that Ms Sturgeon's chief of staff Liz Lloyd had tried to advise Mr Salmond against a return to elected politics last March by mentioning possible complaints.

However the government also admitted Ms Lloyd did discuss misconduct complaints and Mr Salmond with one of his friends in March, but insisted that it had been in the abstract.

“Any reference to allegations or complaints of harassment against Alex Salmond in that discussion was in the context of media enquiries made around the time the #metoo campaign began," it said.  

“Ms Lloyd did not know of any complaints against Mr Salmond or of a Government investigation.”

In response, Mr Salmond's side hit back, insisting that Ms Lloyd "knew of the existence of complaints some time before" she and Ms Sturgeon met Mr Salmond on April 2.

Mr Salmond also confirmed he would be "happy" to cooperate with the looming investigation into whether Ms Sturgeon broke the ministerial code.

The comments illustrate the bitterness of the feud between the SNP’s two most successful leaders which now threatens to split the party.

Mr Salmond won a judicial review at the Court of Session against the Scottish Government last week, forcing it to admit its conduct probe has been fundamentally flawed.

It emerged in court that the official who investigated two claims made against Mr Salmond in January 2018 had been in prior contact with his accusers for several weeks.

It rendered the investigation unlawful, procedurally unfair and “tainted by apparent bias”.

The aftermath of the case has convulsed the government and the SNP.

Ms Sturgeon admitted having three face-to-face meetings and two phone calls with Mr Salmond during the course of the investigation, but denies interfering in it.

Opposition parties accused her of a grave error of judgment in maintaining the contacts.

After also being accused of breaking the ministerial code by failing to report the contacts properly, Ms Sturgeon referred herself on Sunday to her external ethics watchdogs.

Throughout, Ms Sturgeon has maintained that the first she knew of the probe into Mr Salmond was when he told her himself at a meeting at her Glasgow home on April 2.

However on Monday the Scottish Sun cited a “Salmond camp insider” contradicting this to claim that Ms Sturgeon was aware in advance of the April 2 meeting.

The paper said: “The source claimed: ‘She already knew about the inquiry. She knew.’”

If true, it would mean Ms Sturgeon has misled the public and Holyrood about the chronology.

The First Minister’s spokesperson denied the claim.

In a separate story, the Times newspaper cited “sources close to Salmond” alleging Ms Lloyd advised Mr Salmond, via an intermediary, not to stand for election because of harassment allegations against him.

As the contact was on March 6, this would also point to prior knowledge by Ms Sturgeon’s closest political aide.

Ms Sturgeon’s office confirmed Ms Lloyd, who was also at the April 2 meeting, had met an intermediary of Mr Salmond on March 6, but insisted their conversation was a general one and denied Ms Lloyd knew at the time that specific complaints had been made against Mr Salmond.

On Monday, in a furious attempt to rebut both stories, Ms Sturgeon’s official spokesman issued the following statement: “This appears to be an attempt to smear the First Minister.  

“Suggestions by Mr Salmond’s ‘insiders’ that the First Minister knew about the investigation before April 2 are not true.

“The suggestion put to Ms Sturgeon’s Chief of Staff by the Times, that she knew of complaints when she met someone who could be described as an intermediary for Alex Salmond on 6th March, is also not true.   

“Given that issues around the First Minister's meetings with Mr Salmond have been referred to the Independent Advisers to consider, we will not comment further."  

“At the heart of this matter remains the fact that complaints were made that could not be swept under the carpet – and the First Minister and Scottish Government will not say or do anything which might risk prejudicing the police investigation.”

In response, Mr Salmond's spokesman said: "We will not be commenting on the content of private meetings or discussions on or off the record but Alex has made it clear that, if asked, he will be happy to give evidence to the panel of independent advisers. This then is our first and only comment on this issue of the Ministerial code.

"In the interests of accuracy, it is the case that the First Minister’s senior special adviser knew of the existence of complaints against Alex some time before the meeting of April 2 and that she initiated the first contact through an intermediary.

"They then arranged the meeting which Alex asked for. Alex has no certainty as to the state of knowledge of the First Minister before then.

"In any case we regard this controversy about these meetings as of secondary importance.

"The substantive issue right now is not the possibility that Nicola Sturgeon may have broken the Ministerial code but the fact that despite repeated warnings the Scottish Government behaved in a manner which was “unlawful”, “unfair’ and “tainted by apparent bias” and further that their decisions have been struck down by the Court of Session at a cost to the Scottish people of over £500,000.

"The responsibility for that institutional fiasco lies at the door of the Permanent Secretary not that of the First Minister. It is high time that the Permanent Secretary accepted it”